Using documents only recently available, this pioneering book explores the interaction of German, British, French, and American policy at a time when the great depression and the growing political power of the Nazis had created a European crisis--the only such crisis between 1910 and 1941 in which the United States played a leading role. The author uses contemporary records to rectify the later accounts of such participants as Herbert Hoover, Julius Curtius, and Paul Schmidt. He describes the negotiations of the major powers arising out of the Austro-German plans for a customs union, and relates this problem to the question of terminating reparations and war debts. He shows how the Governor of the Bank of England directed British foreign policy into bitter opposition to France and how the German government sought to exploit the German private debt to Wall Street. Edward Bennett comes to the conclusion that the Br ning government, contrary to widely held opinion, received fully as much help as it deserved, while the Western powers were already showing the disunity and irresponsibility which proved so disastrous in later years. Although primarily a diplomatic history, this book also offers fresh information on pre-Hitler Germany, MacDonald's Britain, the Hoover administration, and the early career of Pierre Laval.

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.

Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Forschung kann nur interdisziplin�r betrieben werden und ihre Aufgabe der Vertiefung unseres Verst�ndnisses von sozio-�konomischen Prozessen und deren Interaktion mit politischen Entwicklungen erfuellen, wenn �konomische Theorie vernuenftig angewendet wird. Zwei amerikanische Wissenschaftler, Douglas North und Robert Fogel, wurden 1993 mit dem Nobelpreis fuer Wirtschaftswissenschaften fuer ihre Pionierarbeit in Kliometrie, der Verbindung von �konomie und Geschichte, ausgezeichnet. In Nordamerika ist der Paradigmenwechsel vollst�ndig vollzogen: Kliometrie ist bereits eine �normale Wissenschaft�. Der vorliegende Band, vornehmlich von amerikanischen Gelehrten mit wirtschaftswissenschaftlichem Sachverstand geschrieben, liefert der deutschen akademischen Gemeinschaft wenig bekannte, jedoch bahnbrechende Artikel. .

Eichengreen and Lindert bring together original studies that assess the historical record to see what lessons can be learned for resolving today's crisis.